Lish the Wolfer had not passed many days in his new camp before he began to see very plainly that he had not bettered his prospects by coming there. For reasons we have already given, game was not as abundant as it was in that other hunting ground, and something must be done about it, or the furs he would carry back to the settlements in the spring would not sell for any great sum. There was only one thing he could do, and that was to carry out a plan that had long ago suggested itself to him.
Lish knew that a man of Big Thompson’s active habits would not be content to pass more than half his time in camp doing nothing, but that he would devote all his spare hours to trapping. He was as successful in this line as he was in causing the arrest of 355those who violated the law by selling arms and ammunition to hostile Indians, and if Lish could only find out where his traps were set, and visit them occasionally while the lawful owner was absent, he might make something handsome by it.
The only objection to this plan was that there was a spice of danger in it; but this Lish hoped to avoid by the celerity and secrecy of his movements.
Having pondered the matter for almost a month, the wolfer set out for the valley from which he had so hastily retreated, intending to give it a good looking over, and to be governed in his future movements by what he saw there.
He took Tom’s last blanket from his shoulders while the latter was asleep, and left him without a stick of wood with which to replenish the fire when he awoke.
He went into camp that night on the side of the valley directly opposite to the thicket in which Oscar’s cabin stood; and, at an early hour the next morning, he had that cabin under surveillance. He saw Big Thompson 356and his young companion when they started for the gorge—this was the morning on which the guide began his second journey to the fort—and, as soon as they were out of sight, he ran across the valley from the willows and plunged into the woods behind the cabin.
The impulse to look into it, and see if there was anything there worth stealing, was very strong; but the fear that Big Thompson might come back and find him there was stronger, and he did not yield to that impulse.
He followed about half a mile in the rear of the two hunters, keeping them always in sight; and, when he saw them shake hands and separate at the mouth of the gorge, one going on toward the prairie, while the other—after loitering about for a while—came back into the valley, his delight knew no bounds.
He knew as well as Oscar did that Big Thompson was about to make an effort to reach the fort; and his first care must be to watch him, and see if he succeeded in getting through the gorge. If he did, so much the better for himself, for he would have a clear field for his operations.
357Leaving Oscar to go where he pleased, until it suited his convenience to look after him, the wolfer ran along in the edge of the woods until he reached the gorge. A high hill arose on one side of it, and this the wolfer scaled, after considerable trouble, and sat down on the top of it to watch Big Thompson’s progress.
From his lofty perch he kept the guide in sight for more than an hour; and the ease with which the latter passed over the drifts would have satisfied a less crafty and suspicious person that there was no danger to be apprehended from his unexpected return.
But Lish was so very much afraid of Big Thompson that he dared not take any risks. He kept his position on the top of the hill until it was almost dark, and then scrambled down and ran back to his camp.
“I s’pose I might have turned that thar chap outen that thar cabin, an’ slept for onct with a tight roof over my head an’ plenty of blankets to keep me warm,” muttered the wolfer, as he searched about in the timber for some dry wood with which to start his fire. “But if Big Thompson should ’a’ happened to come 358back in the night—whooppee! Howsomever, who keers? I’ll go thar bright an’ arly in the mornin’, and take everything I kin lay my hands on to. I’ll larn that young chap that he’s barkin’ up the wrong tree when he tries to shet me into the guard-house!”
By the time daylight came, however, the wolfer had made a slight change in his programme. Before visiting the cabin, he thought it would be a good plan to hunt up Big Thompson’s traps, and thus make sure of something to repay him for his long journey. After that he would take a look at the camp, and, if the coast was clear, make a descent upon it; but, if he found that the guide had returned during the night, he would pick up the game he had stolen from the traps and make all haste to get back into his own valley.
This programme was duly carried out, and the result exceeded the wolfer’s most sanguine expectations. Both sides of the brook were lined with traps, and Lish robbed and stole so many that, by the time he found the last one, his load was as heavy as he could conveniently manage.
359His first work was to lighten it, which he did by removing the skins of the stolen animals, which, with the traps, he placed among the evergreens, out of sight.
He was very proud of his morning’s work, and his success gave him courage.
The wolfer now crossed to the nearest bluffs; and, running along under cover of the timbe............